J.W. Westcott is the only boat with a U.S. ZIP code, serving freighters on the Great Lakes

DETROIT, Michigan – The J.W. Westcott is the only boat with its own ZIP code.

The 45-foot steel boat works 24 hours a day, delivering mail, packages and sometimes pizza to the giant lakers that chug daily through the Detroit River, headed anywhere on the Great Lakes.

“Oh Lord, it’s crazy this time of year,” said the general manager, Captain Sam Buchanan. “We deliver Amazon. We’re delivering all kinds of stuff to every ship that goes by our station, pretty much.”

The Westcott has been an official marine U.S. Post Office since 1895. The company was founded in 1874, when it used a rowboat to deliver messages to passing ships through its “mail-in-the-pail” technique.

144 years later, the boat is still delivering mail in the pail. Of course, there are a lot fewer letters than there once was. There are a lot more packages, instead.

But, “You still can’t get a handwritten note from your child over the phone," Buchanan said. "Or the old letters that used to be doused with the wife’s perfume.”

The Westcott works from April until about Christmas Eve, usually remaining within a mile of its station, near the Ambassador Bridge to Canada. The boat meets every freighter on the Detroit River – which is basically every freighter delivering cargo from the upper Great Lakes to Lake Erie.

(The Detroit River connects Lake St. Clair and Lake Erie.)

In addition to mail deliveries and pick-ups, the Westcott also:

Serves a water taxi

Ferries Americans and Canadians to pilot foreign-owned ships, and brings pilots who are finished their shifts back to shore

Sells snacks and cigarettes

Sells U.S. and Canadian nautical charts, maritime history books, postcards and marine manuals

Stores and delivers freight

“When we’re out there delivering, we’re usually bringing somebody some happiness,” Buchanon said. “If you really want to see happiness, deliver 20 pizzas.”